Continuing the Mercury Prize's tradition of honouring sharp, smart indie debut albums, 2012's winner was Alt-J's An Awesome Wave. This fresh-faced quartet formed at Leeds Metropolitan University, and impressed chairman of judges Simon Frith with their "hypnotic" qualities and "melodically interesting" sound. An Awesome Wave was also named BBC Radio 6 Music's album of the year, and the band have since performed on the main stage at Glastonbury 2013. 2012's nominees also included Jessie Ware and Plan B.